


you are only human

by blawky



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Angst, Character Study, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, all i do is write angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 07:50:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blawky/pseuds/blawky
Summary: "We are only human. Inevitably, we will disappoint you."





	you are only human

Hana Song stood alone on the streets of Busan, her eyes plastered to a single, electronic board before her. A girl, dressed head-to-toe in a blue jumpsuit, winked back at her from the display. Most of the text on the board had been made blurry by the rain, but a single sentence stood out, the words plastering themselves onto Hana’s eyelids even when she blinked, ultraviolet afterimages seared into her brain.

**D.Va: Protector of Our City!**

She barely recognized the girl in the photo, barely recognized her own hair even as it clung to her scalp. Hana was suddenly gripped by a desperate need to get out, to get away, to think about anything but D.Va’s image plastered onto that wall. She pulled her jacket close, staring around to make sure nobody had noticed her. Adjusting her cap, she stepped back towards her hoverbike, fingers twitching slightly.

A man was staring at her from just behind the hoverbike, squinting. He was younger -- maybe in his late twenties -- and his black hair was buzzed short, like a military man’s. A cup of some frothing liquid was held in his right hand, and his squinting gaze never left Hana, even as she raised her head to stare right back. 

“That’s you, isn’t it?” The man’s voice was slurred as he spoke, and he pointed behind him to the poster. Hana forced herself to laugh, forced some hint of bemusement into her eyes. 

“No, sorry.” She tried to climb onto her hoverbike, only for the man to drunkenly slam his hand onto the handlebars, preventing her quick escape. Hana adjusted her hat and glared. 

“Can I help you?” The man just stood there for a minute, before he started to talk again, and Hana almost wanted to punch him and run. But she didn’t, so just she stood there instead, letting him talk. 

“That’s you. I know it. You’re D.Va! You’re like, a hero!” 

Hana clenched her fist. 

_You’re like, a hero!_ The words brought images to her mind she’d rather have kept down. Screams of her friends as the hordes of omnics swarmed them. Pain in her left arm. Pain in her right arm. More screams.

 _Yuna’s voice going quiet. Daehyun sounding far off. Fear coiling itself around her gut. She saw other MEKA soldiers -- none of her team, but MEKA soldiers nonetheless -- fall to the ground and never get up. Blood leaked out of their mekas._

“I’m not the girl you’re looking for, pal. You’ve had a few too many drinks,” she said uneasily, trying to pry her hoverbike away from the man’s grip before he started to ramble again. 

“You can deny it all you want, but I know what I saw. Why are you hiding? Everyone loves you. D.Va, hero of Busan! You’re a celebrity!” 

Hana sucked in the cold air, begging her nerves to calm down, begging the visions to stop. “I’m not a hero. Leave me alone, man.” She wrenched his hand off the handlebars, and shoved him back. 

Without any more pomp and circumstance, Hana clambered onto her hoverbike, her hands shaking as she revved the engine. 

“What are you hiding from, lady?!” The man’s words cut through the sound of the engine as she sped off, willing the motorbike to go faster, faster. 

Busan’s neon landscape sped past her periphery as she raced through the streets, willing herself to forget the man, forget that damn poster. 

Faster, faster, faster. Adrenaline filled her veins, but it wasn’t enough, would never be enough to cancel out the screams. 

_“Hana!” Daehyun’s voice was mutilated by the sound of gunfire and blades. She battled to stay conscious, but she could feel her stomach doing flips, feel her head growing lighter and lighter. Another meka hit the ground next to her. How many was that?_

A breath. In, out, in, out. The cold air whipped past her head as she sped through the rainy, empty streets of Busan. 

Who was she? Hana Song? D.Va? 

She stared up at the skyline, up at another holoscreen with D.Va plastered on it. The world knew her only as D.Va, the picture-perfect soldier. Their hero.

Did Hana Song even exist at all?

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for taking the time to read this character study! sorry that it's a bit on the short side, i just had to write after seeing the shooting star cinematic (which you should definitely watch)! 
> 
>  
> 
> special thank you to everyone who beta read for me!


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